307b65b45b
* Bind *command-line-args* after the deps-image cache swap (jolt-4mui) Under whole-program (deps-image cache active), `jolt -m NS ARG` dropped ARG: run-main set *command-line-args* on the current ctx, but a cache HIT then replaced ctx with the saved image (via `set ctx cached`), whose *command-line- args* was whatever got baked when the image was saved. The stale binding won at `(apply NS/-main *command-line-args*)`, so -main ran with the wrong (usually default) args — silently, for any optimized -m program. Move set-command-line-args to AFTER the cache swap so it binds on the final ctx. Repro/regression in deps-cache-args-test.janet: first run builds the image (arg "first"), second run (cache hit) must echo "second", not the baked "first". * docs: RFC 0003 — phm is a HAMT, sorted colls a red-black tree The transients RFC described phm as "bucket-based copy-on-write" and mused about "if it ever becomes a HAMT" — it is one now (jolt-684u), and sorted maps/sets are a red-black tree (jolt-0hbr). Update the deviation/future-work notes accordingly. --------- Co-authored-by: Yogthos <yogthos@gmail.com>
118 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
118 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown
# RFC 0003: Transients — semantics and why they live in the Janet seed
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Status: accepted (design note)
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This note pins down what transients *are* in Jolt, where their behavior
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deviates from JVM Clojure and why, and why the transient machinery is part of
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the irreducible Janet seed rather than a candidate for the core-in-Clojure
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migration (jolt-tzo). It exists so the kernel-shrink ladder doesn't revisit
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transients every round.
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## What a transient is in Jolt
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A transient is a tagged Janet table wrapping a *native* mutable host value
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(`core.janet`, "Transients" section):
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- transient vector — `@{:jolt/type :jolt/transient :kind :vector :arr ARRAY}`,
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a Janet array.
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- transient map — `:kind :map :tbl TABLE`, a Janet table mapping
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`canon-key(k)` → `@[k v]`. Keying by canonical key keeps collection keys
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comparing by value across representations (`[1 2]` the pvec and `[1 2]` the
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tuple are one key), and storing the `@[k v]` pair preserves the *original*
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key for the rebuilt persistent map.
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- transient set — `:kind :set :tbl TABLE` mapping `canon-key(x)` → `x`.
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`transient` accepts pvecs, mutable-build arrays, tuples (reader vectors and
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map entries — added in the seed-shrink rounds so `(into [] (first {:a 1}))`
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works through the vector fast path), sets, phms, and untagged struct maps.
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Sorted collections are rejected, as on the JVM (not editable).
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The bang ops (`conj!`, `assoc!`, `dissoc!`, `disj!`, `pop!`) mutate that host
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value in place and return the transient — O(1) per op (amortized for array
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push). `persistent!` rebuilds a persistent value from the host value and
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invalidates the transient (`:jolt/persistent` flag; any further bang op or a
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second `persistent!` throws "Transient used after persistent! call", matching
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Clojure's invalidation contract).
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Read ops work on an active transient where Clojure supports them: `get`,
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`contains?`, `count`, and `nth` (vector kind) branch on the transient tag.
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`seq` on a transient is not supported, as in Clojure.
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## Deviations from JVM Clojure (deliberate)
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**O(n) edges, O(1) middle.** Clojure's `(transient v)` is O(1) — the transient
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*shares* the persistent trie and marks nodes editable; `persistent!` is O(1)
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too. Jolt's `transient` copies the source into a native array/table (O(n)) and
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`persistent!` rebuilds (O(n)). The bang ops in between are native-host O(1),
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which is *faster* per-op than trie editing. So the asymptotics of the usual
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pattern
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(persistent! (reduce conj! (transient []) coll))
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are identical (O(n) total either way) with a better constant in the loop and a
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worse constant at the two edges. The pattern transients exist for — batch
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construction — is fully served. What is NOT served is transient-editing a
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*large* collection to change a few keys: that's O(n) in Jolt vs O(log n) in
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Clojure, because `transient` flattens the pvec trie / phm HAMT into a
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native array/table and `persistent!` rebuilds them.
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**No thread-ownership check.** JVM Clojure ≥1.7 also dropped the owner-thread
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assertion (for fork/join), keeping only "don't use after persistent!", which
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Jolt enforces. Jolt code is fiber-concurrent; when real OS-thread futures land
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(jolt-ejx), a transient handed across threads is a data race exactly as in
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Clojure — documented, not checked, same as the JVM.
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**`(conj!)` / `(conj! t)` arities** follow Clojure's transducer-era contract:
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zero args makes a fresh `(transient [])`, one arg returns it untouched.
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`assoc!` tolerates a dangling final key (treated as `k nil`), matching the
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lenient kvs walk of Jolt's `assoc`.
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**No transient sorted variants** — same as Clojure. One leniency: Clojure
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throws on `(transient '(1))`, but Jolt's lists are Janet arrays underneath and
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fall into the mutable-build branch, yielding a transient *vector*. Harmless
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(the result of `persistent!` is a vector, never silently a list) but
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non-Clojure; tighten if it ever bites.
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## Why transients stay in the Janet seed
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The migration ladder (jolt-tzo) moves anything expressible as *pure Clojure
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over existing primitives* out of the seed. Transients fail that test on three
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grounds:
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1. **They are the mutation kernel.** A transient's entire value is direct
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mutation of a host array/table. The overlay's only mutation seam is
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`jolt.host/ref-put!` (a single table-put). Re-expressing `tr-conj!` etc. in
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Clojure would mean either growing the host surface one-for-one
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(`host-array-push!`, `host-table-put!`, …, i.e. moving the same code behind
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more indirection) or simulating mutation over persistent values (defeating
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the point of transients). Either way the Janet line count moves, it doesn't
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shrink.
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2. **They sit under the seed's own dispatch.** `conj`/`assoc`/`get`/`count`/
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`contains?` in the seed branch on the transient tag. Hoisting the transient
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ops above that dispatch (the hierarchy-port pattern of lazily-resolved
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overlay vars) would put an interpreted/compiled-Clojure call inside the
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hottest native paths for no semantic gain — transients have no semantics to
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*fix* (unlike hierarchy, which had real correctness gaps).
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3. **The value layer is declared irreducible.** The self-hosting design doc
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(docs/self-hosting-compiler.md, "The kernel") keeps the value/representation
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layer — persistent collections and, with them, their mutable scratch
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counterparts — in the host. Transients are representation, not library.
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What CAN move (and mostly has): anything *derived* — e.g. `into`'s
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transient-using fast path, or future `update!`-style conveniences — is plain
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Clojure over `transient`/bang-ops/`persistent!` and belongs in the overlay
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tiers as ordinary migration batches.
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## Future work
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- pvec is already a 32-way trie with structural sharing (pv.janet), so
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Clojure-style O(1) `transient`/`persistent!` via editable nodes is a real
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option for vectors — an internal change behind the same surface, not a
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semantics change. phm is now a HAMT with structural sharing too (jolt-684u),
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and sorted maps/sets are a red-black tree (jolt-0hbr), so the same editable-
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node trick is open for those as well — the transient surface here is still the
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copy-to-native-table flatten.
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- `transient?` (Jolt extension, useful in tests) stays; Clojure has no public
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predicate, so it must not leak into portability-sensitive code.
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